Easyjet claim to take their environmental responsibility very seriously, claiming that they “strive to minimise [their] carbon emissions by flying younger, cleaner, fuller planes - in fact, flying with a traditional airline (based on same route and plane type) burns 27% more emissions per passenger kilometre”.

And to continue this interest in the Environment, they have now introduced Carbon Offsetting into the booking procedure on their website. I’ve just tried booking a flight to see how ‘easy’ it is - and they’re right - after your ‘total’ but before ‘next step’ (so not as heavily pushed as their ’speedy boarding’ and travel insurance services) you have the option of adding to your total the amount they estimate it would cost of offset your flight. On a one way trip to Milan for 1 person they quoted £1.33 and stressed “there’s no middlemen and easyJet doesn’t profit from the scheme”. You can then choose to read about a possible scheme your money might go towards supporting - the example given this time (I imagine it may change randomly) was Hydroelectric power in Ecuador). Admittedly, they’re not giving any money to carbon offsetting - which they could afford to do - but it will take time and resources on their part to arrange the payments. And after all, it was me choosing to fly to Milan one way.
So they’ve done some homework, and it’s easy for the customer to do - but is it just greenwashing? Or should we give some big companies a break and not always shout the ‘g’ word whenever they try to help matters?
You can read more about Easyjet’s environmental policies here.